


Dreaming

by PrincessSkylar



Series: I Thought I Heard You Say "I Love You" [3]
Category: Daredevil (Comics), Daredevil (TV), Hawkeye (Comics), Marvel 616, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Avocados at Law, Brain Damage, Clint Is a Good Bro, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fanart, Friendship, M/M, Mutual Pining, Not Canon Compliant, fanart as a chapter, probably only one time tho so dont get to excited also it has nothing to do with the story really
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-11-25
Updated: 2015-12-20
Packaged: 2018-05-03 06:35:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,707
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5280407
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PrincessSkylar/pseuds/PrincessSkylar
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Set roughly five months after Dying, Foggy's recovery is going well, until new memories start to crop up, that don't seem to fit in with reality. As confusion grows, he starts to regress emotionally and mentally, and slowly shuts everyone out. It's up to Matt and Clint to figure out what's wrong, and the answer turns out to be much more simple than anyone anticipated.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Pizza and Boy Talk

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Foggy's settling into his new life with brain damage, but it's not as easy as he wants everyone to think it is.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanna thank every single person who read, subscribed to, and kudo’d the first fic. I wanna give a SPECIAL thanks to those who commented, and just say that each little comment gave me the inspiration to keep going, and just brightened up my day so much. I honestly get the stupidest grin on my face whenever I see a comment. :)
> 
> So when I wrote the first one of these, it was right after a breakup that wasn’t necessarily bad, so much as it was sad. It was a guy I had dated for a long time, and I had really liked. It was a bummer and I was lonely, so I wrote a gay fanfic. Well, now I’m desperately pining for a friend of mine, so the romantic frustration is back! Which means more gay pining!
> 
> Now at long last, Chapter One:

_Matt swallowed thickly, his eyebrows furrowing slightly in concern. “We’re in a cab, you’re going home,” he answered, managing a slight smile for Foggy’s sake._

 

_“Wh…” Foggy frowned deeper. “I’m sorry, I… I can’t remember, where are we going from?”_

 

_“The hospital.” Matt was so patient, he always was. “You were in a coma.”_

 

_“I…” Foggy couldn’t remember Matt’s name. Had no idea who he was, how they had met. But he somehow knew this person wasn’t lying. This man was going to keep him safe. “Was I?”_

 

Foggy jumped as the sound of the door opening jolted him back to the present. He sat up in his bed, and rubbed his face, in an attempt to feel more awake. “Who is it?” he called.

 

“It’s me!” called the familiar voice of Foggy’s nurse, Clint Barton.

 

Clint had been working with Foggy for about five months now, mostly to make sure he kept his appointments and always had someone to remind him where he was, and that he was safe. At first, there had been a lot of therapy sessions that Foggy had been required to attend, both to make sure he hadn’t lost any motor functions and to make sure his memory was improving. Now, he only attended psychological therapy once every two weeks. He was currently working on remembering the events following the coma.

 

Foggy sighed in irritation and forced himself to stand up. He hadn’t been asleep, but he was lying down for long enough he had grown stiff. What? He wasn’t allowed to go back to work for another two months. “Doctor’s orders” as Barton had said. He was bored. “What do you want?” he called.

 

“I live here, Foggy,” Clint called out, flatly. By the sound of his voice, he was in the kitchen. Drinking all of Foggy’s coffee, no doubt.

 

“Not legally!” Foggy pointed out. Next month Clint would be moving out, anyway. Doubtless, Clint, and Karen, and Matt would be obsessively checking in on him once he was officially living alone, and his apartment would be more full than it was with just Clint living there, but it was a step up. He walked toward the bedroom door and swung the door open, glaring at the man in the kitchen, who was leaning against a counter, steaming mug in his hand. “Did you remember to buy milk?” he asked.

 

“Yes, honey,” Clint replied simply, not looking up from the phone in his hand.

 

Foggy pulled the bedroom door shut behind him and walked towards the kitchen. “You know, drinking coffee past noon is really bad for your health, Doctor,” he pointed out.

 

Clint smirked slightly, before lowering his phone and shoving it into his pocket. “Any plans for dinner?” he asked, dismissing Foggy’s comment. Asshole.

 

Foggy shrugged. “Matt invited us over for pizza, I told him I’d ask you.”

 

“Pizza sounds good.”

 

**…**

 

Visiting Matt’s apartment was always nice, mostly because the place was always so clean and lacking in furniture. Partly because the whole place held the distinct feel of Matt. Whenever he was there, Foggy would miss their days of living together. Matt was a great roommate, the only person who had ever been capable of convincing Foggy to clean up every once in awhile. Clint tried to keep Foggy’s apartment clean, but it wasn’t the same. Foggy didn’t have any sort of motivation to please Clint, the way he had felt obligated to take care of Matt.

 

Foggy and Matt sat on Matt’s couch, close enough that their knees brushed slightly. Clint and Karen sat in the armchairs opposite them, as everyone ate and made idle conversation. Foggy had tuned out at some point, replaying in his head the car trip back from the hospital. Trying to recall the moments preceding, trying to remember waking up. Trying to figure out if he had imagined...

 

“You still with us, Foggy?” Karen interrupted, causing Foggy to jump slightly.

 

“Oh, yeah, sorry, I was just…” Foggy squirmed slightly in his seat as everyone turned concerned expressions on him. “Spacing out.”

 

“You okay?” Karen asked softly, “You’ve barely touched your food.”

 

“I’m fine,” he answered, a little too quickly. “Just… A little distracted.”

 

“By what?” Matt asked, and Foggy suddenly started to grow agitated. He hated moments like these, when he was suddenly the most important person in the room, when everyone had to halt what they were doing and focus on him. All because of his stupid brain damage.

 

He chided himself, knowing it was unfair to get angry. That his friends were concerned, and it made sense for them to be worried. Four months ago, he would have shouted and left the room. He knew better now. He took a deep breath and shook his head. “Nothing, just some stuff me and my doctor are working on lately. Trying to remember things.”

 

Matt hunched his shoulders ever-so slightly, disappointed that Foggy never talked openly about what he was going through. Poor guy was always so worried. He tried to hide it, of course, but Foggy could tell, could see the disappointment in his stance, hear the tentativeness in his voice, feel the eagerness in each small touch, which had become ever-increasing since he woke up.

 

“Foggy,” Clint said softly, gently urging him to share more. To talk through his problems. Foggy wanted to strangle him.

 

“It’s nothing,” he insisted, and forced a smile, one he knew they knew was fake. “Can we just drop it?”

 

Everyone seemed to reluctantly surrender, even if Matt nudged their knees together slightly, in a subtle way that Foggy knew somehow meant _‘This isn’t over,’_ and _‘I’m here for you,’_ at the same time. But Matt was the first to bring up a new topic. “So Clint,” he said, “When are we gonna meet that mystery boyfriend of yours?”

 

“I told you, it’s not that simple,” Clint said, voice thick with exasperation.

 

“Come on,” Karen insisted, reaching over to nudge his shoulder. “How can it really be that big of a secret? Does he work for the government?”

 

Foggy smiled slightly, aware that this topic always got Karen and Clint bickering, grateful to Matt for the distraction.

 

“I can’t tell you,” Clint reiterated for the millionth time that month. He had long given up on trying to come up with excuses.

 

“Just tell us what he looks like,” Karen bargained, “Is he cute?”

 

“Yeah, he’s cute,” Clint relented. “Obviously. But that’s all I’m saying.”

 

“I don’t think he really exists,” Foggy chimed in with a playful smile, and the two each shot him a small smile, happy he was joining the conversation. “It’s the classic Canadian Girlfriend scenario.”

 

“Hey!” Clint barked indignantly. “Do I look like I couldn’t get a date if I wanted?”

 

“Do you want an honest answer?” Foggy retorted with a smug grin.

 

“No, a good imaginary girlfriend would at least have a name,” Karen pointed out. “And a clear description other than ‘cute’.”

 

Clint groaned and rolled his head back onto the chair. “You guys are killing me.”

 

Foggy laughed, and noted how it made Matt’s smile break into a grin. Surely, he wasn’t imagining that.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I wanna apologize again for how long the wait was, a lot of bad shit happened this year, and I wasn’t writing well and I was hating what I wrote, along with the fear that this fic wouldn’t live up to it’s predecessor, so I was pretty much stuck in a bad writer’s block. Hopefully that’ll change! 
> 
> So let me know what you guys think! If people are still enjoying this, I’ll continue writing it! Thanks for the read!


	2. Christmas Break!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Instead of writing a Christmas chapter (which would inevitably end up being done way after Christmas passed), I drew a lil Christmas themed fanart that has nothing to do with the story!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry guys! I've been taking a break from writing as the holidays fudge up my life. And... Life fudges up. I've been having some trouble. But nOT TO WORRY I've been doing a lot of drawing! So here's a lil random thing thrown at you guys 'cause you're awesome and I'm super duper sorry for the long wait between chapters!!! Drawing's a lot easier and more fun for me, so I've been doing that. Enough chitchat here's a really stupid fuckin thing I made. Enjoy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and don't forget there's more art from me at [my art Tumblr](princessfoggynelson.tumblr.com). Thanks for reading and happy holidays!


	3. The Wrong Time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Matt has feelings, but is too much of a dumb-dumb to share.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I finished Jessica Jones, albeit a little late, and I’ve been sucked back into the world of Marvel. Especially Netflix Marvel, I love it SO MUCH so yeah I’ve rejoined the fandom (not that I really left but u know) so hopefully, that means a lot more fanfiction! Hopefully. We’ll see. 
> 
> S/O to my betas, EmpressAida and EmmalitaBemmaRock, who are also the people who shouted at me the most to get off my lazy ass and write this thing. Love you guys!

Seeing Foggy in that hospital bed had changed how Matt saw not only his life, but the world as a whole. The phone call telling him what had happened shook his reality in a way he hadn’t expected. Yes, he had anticipated that, eventually, Foggy would probably end up hurt because of him. A reality which had hit much harder after his secret was revealed.

 

He hadn’t been surprised, he hadn’t been angry or hungry for revenge, he had just felt… Numb, at first. Disbelieving. He practically destroyed his own life during those months, fixated every minute on the possibility that he was about to lose his best friend.

 

While he had waited in that hospital room, day after day, talking to someone he knew wouldn’t hear him, he made himself a promise: if Foggy survives this, he would tell him how he felt.

 

But things got complicated when Foggy woke up. Foggy started to forget things, he could barely remember his own name. Somehow, it seemed wrong to add the complication of romance to the clusterfuck of Foggy’s troubles.

 

He swore to himself again, since he never learned, that once Foggy was settled down, once he was back to normal, he would say something.

 

However, the longer he waited, the more intimidating the concept became. What if he destroyed their friendship? Nothing was more valuable to him than what they had, and as much as he did stupid and damaging things to himself, he wasn’t sure he could risk losing that. It was the same thing that had held him back before.There was no way he could confess without knowing the feeling was mutual.

 

Besides, lately, Foggy had been distancing himself. Matt knew he needed time to himself to heal, that there were certain things he would rather discuss with his doctor, that the incident had changed his mind enough that he might have trouble talking about it. At first, Matt had been willing to give Foggy all the space and time he needed, allow him to heal naturally, to open up when he was ready. He wanted to make him comfortable.

 

But then… Foggy never opened up. He never asked Matt for help, never told him what was wrong. And, as much as Matt wanted to make sure Foggy was happy regardless of how much had changed, he missed his best friend. He missed late nights, working in comfortable silence. He missed drunken adventures through town, stumbling over each other and saying sappy things they would never remember. He missed meaningful conversations late at night when they had nothing better to do than talk.

 

Every time Foggy redirected a conversation, Matt was painfully reminded of how different things were now. There was a strange distance between them now, a kind of odd silence. Of course, Matt did not dare to bring it up; Foggy hadn’t liked discussing how he felt before, he would likely despise it now.

 

**…**

_“So, when are you going to tell him?” Karen asked, having caught Matt spacing out during work again. She always seemed to know what he was thinking. Then again, what else did he think about anymore?_

_“I… I don’t know,” Matt admitted with a defeated sigh. Karen frowned at him in a questioning way. “It’s different now.”_

_“How so?” she asked. Matt raised an eyebrow. “I mean, I know he’s changed, but he’s still Foggy, right?”_

_Matt sighed again. “Yeah, but…”_

_“You still love him, don’t you?”_

_“Of course.”_

_“Then don’t you think he deserves to know?”_

_“When the time is right.”_

**…**

A few minutes into the mystery boyfriend conversation, Clint’s phone rang. “Hang on, guys,” he said, playfulness draining from his expression as he stood. “I gotta take this.” He stepped out of the room as he answered the call.

 

“Any idea what that’s about?” Karen asked quietly.

 

“I wouldn’t worry about it,” Matt replied calmly, even as he turned his head to listen. “I’m sure it’s nothing.”

 

“Are you sure you can’t get Spider-Man or, someone else? I’m sort of busy right now,” Clint was saying in a hushed voice.

 

“ _How do you suppose I contact him, Clint?!_ ” demanded the voice on the other end, a young woman, by the sound of it. “ _Get your sorry butt down here, pronto! Your boyfriend can wait!_ ”

 

“Boy-? Dude, shut up. Can’t you take care of it?”

 

“ _Clint!_ ”

 

“Fine! Okay, I’m coming.” Clint swung the door back open, “I, uh, gotta go. Family emergency. Matt, you’ve got Foggy for the night?”

 

“Hey!” Foggy interjected, “I don’t need to be babysat!”

 

“Yeah, I got him,” Matt replied, placing a placating hand on Foggy’s knee to tell him to shut up. “Good luck.”

 

Clint nodded gratefully, before disappearing out the door.

 

Foggy crossed his arms indignantly. “I can take care of myself, you know,” he pointed out.

 

“Doctor’s orders,” Matt pointed out, the only words he knew Foggy wouldn’t argue. The shorter man huffed.

 

“I hope everything’s okay,” Karen commented, frowning at the door.

 

“It will be,” Matt assured her, “He’s tougher than he seems.” Karen nodded, though she didn’t seem convinced. “Anyway,” Matt continued, “It’s getting late. You should probably head home.”

 

“Is it?” Karen pulled out her phone and glanced at the time. “Oh, alright then.” She stood up. “See you two later, thanks for dinner.”

 

“Thanks for coming, Karen,” Matt replied, waving at the blonde as she left.

 

The door closed and Foggy let out a huff. “You’re really making me stay the night?”

 

Matt frowned slightly, angling his head so he would be facing Foggy. “It won’t be the first time,” he pointed out. “Is something wrong?”

 

“I don’t even have my toothbrush,” he pointed out. “Or clothes.”

 

“Yes you do,” Matt reminded him patiently, “For exactly this situation. Remember?”

 

Foggy sighed. “Right, I… Okay.” He sounded unconvinced, like the last thing he wanted to do was stay. It was strange.

 

Matt shifted slightly in his seat. “Is there something else?”

 

Foggy shrugged. “No.”

 

Even without his super-hearing Matt would have known that was a lie. He considered pushing it, but decided against it. “Alright,” he relented. “If you say so.”

 

**…**

 

As if the pounding heartbeat wasn’t enough to wake him up, Foggy’s sudden gasp and jolting up in bed would have been. If not for Matt already being in the room when Foggy woke up.

 

“Hey,” Matt called softly, as he made his way towards the bed. “Bad dream?”

 

Foggy nodded and wrapped his arms around himself. “Did I wake you up?”

 

Matt nodded, before realizing that the light was probably still off. “Uh, yeah,” he answered. “But that’s fine. You okay?”

 

Foggy shrugged. “Yeah,” he answered half-heartedly.

 

“You want me to turn the light on?” Foggy nodded. Matt switched on the light and moved towards the bed, taking a seat on the edge. “Wanna talk about it?”

 

“Not really,” Foggy answered, lowering his head. “It was just a stupid dream…”

 

Matt bit his lip. “Is this why you didn’t want to stay the night?”

 

Foggy shrugged again. “I don’t sleep well away from home,” he explained. “I didn’t want to be inconvenient.”

 

Matt frowned. “You’re not inconvenient,” he countered. “Besides, you cook a better breakfast than I do.” He shrugged. “I like having you over.”

 

Foggy let out a small laugh. “Shut up,” he mumbled.

 

Matt smiled and nudged Foggy’s shoulder. “I don’t mind waking up to talk to you,” he added in a soft voice. As soon as he said the words, he worried Foggy might take them to wrong way. Or, the right way? He knew now wasn’t the time to talk about that, in any case.

 

But Foggy didn’t tense up or pause or anything, he just let out a small sound, almost like a laugh, and seemed to relax. “You’re so cheesy,” he accused. It was clear he was calming down, and with that calm, the tiredness returned.

 

Matt laughed quietly and nudged him again. “Hey, shut up.” Foggy chuckled and lay back down. Matt could tell by the sound of his heart he was already starting to drift back to sleep. Matt patted Foggy’s leg as he stood up. “Sleep tight, buddy.” Foggy nodded, as Matt went to shut off the light.

 

“Hey, Matt?” he said, stopping Matt in the doorway.

 

Matt turned slightly. “Yeah?”

 

“I love you.”

 

Matt froze for a moment. What? He meant… As a friend, right? Even if Foggy did have feelings like that, now seemed like a really weird time to bring it up. Maybe he wasn’t thinking right, because he was tired. That had to be it. Matt smiled slightly at him. “Love you too, Foggy.”

 

Foggy sighed contentedly and drifted off to sleep.

 

Matt shut the door and leaned against it for a minute. Foggy was just tired. No reason to look too deeply into that, right? They were best friends, of course they loved each other. That was all Foggy meant. That was totally the kind of thing he would say without consequence. No reason to dwell on it.

 

Matt stayed up for quite a while dwelling on that.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, uh, the plot has been coming along much more quickly than I originally anticipated. On the bright side, I’ve got a couple new ideas that’ll make things interesting… They may or may not have something to do with Hawkeye… Thanks to Aida being a huge Hawkeye geek (officially ordained our Residential Hawkeye Expert) for coming up with a way to push Matt and Foggy into Clint’s crazy life. The story is finally developing into something substantial! And it should improve from here out!

**Author's Note:**

> Follow me on tumblr @therealjanetvandyne and my betas, @empress-aida and @queenofthedamnnile
> 
> As always, thanks for reading!


End file.
